Confusing Modifiers

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies—that is, gives us information about—another word in the same sentence. For example, in the sentence I’m eating a vegetarian burger, the word burger is modified by the word vegetarian. In longer sentences, the placement of modifiers is important for clarity. Here, Grammarly has found a confusing modifier:

In this sentence, the modifier is a clause, using astronavigation. However, the sentence is unclear, because it’s difficult to see what part of the sentence using astronavigationmodifies. A reader might wonder, “Did Dolger discover the civilization with the help of astronavigation, or did he discover a civilization that was already using astronavigation?” The placement of the modifier affects the meaning of the sentence dramatically.